Essay: The value of handmade rugs

Walking Through History

By Aileen Vincent-Barwood/life@home

Stretching along the upstairs hallway of our house is an old, eight-foot-long Oriental rug that is worn in the center, frayed at one end, and still one of the most precious things we own. I intend to pass it down through the generations, hoping it will continue to be valued within the family.

Although it is not a particularly valuable rug, it is hand-woven. Its colors are the muted earth tones of Turkish Kurdistan: dark blue, ochre, terra cotta ivory and black. Its repeated design of stylized flowers and trees, symbols and geometric patterns demonstrate the skill and talent of its long ago Kurdish weaver.

Years ago, because I liked the colors and design, I bought it at a garage sale. Today I know that the American seller had little or no idea of its value.

Early on, in the early section of the Middle East where it was created — Turkestan, Anatolia, India, Iran, Russia and the Caucasus — home-made rug-weaving was a way of life. Rugs were used for many practical and symbolic tasks, from covering floors to partitioning tents and decorating camels. Traditionally, such rugs were produced for all levels of society, from the wealthiest to the humblest, from kings to peasants, and from lofty cathedrals and mosques to ordinary schools and churches.

From our years overseas, we own several other Oriental rugs, some smaller, some larger, some more valuable, but even those cannot be classified as “rare” or “priceless.” They are, however, beautiful, mostly because we value the work it took to weave them, often under very primitive and difficult conditions.

For untold centuries, weaving gave form to all aspects of visual art. In that Middle East society where the woven rug originated, the entire cycle of human existence was closely linked to such woven textiles. Babies were cradled in rug hammocks; clothing was stored and transported in rug bags. Dried food was stored in specially woven hanging rugs, and a bride’s worth might well have depended on her ability to weave a beautiful rug.

Originally, most oriental rugs were created in the weaver’s house or yard, and meant to be used in the village home, a Bedouin’s nomadic tent, or the local place of worship. Weaving then was a long and arduous job done by a few of the village men and many of the women.

First, the men sheer the specially-bred sheep of their dirty, oily and matted fleece. They then pound it with soapy water from a nearby stream. Next, the women use a carding comb to tease the wool into a fluffy white mass of loosely-packed fibers. Once this is completed, they use a wooden spindle to spin the fibers into yarn. Sometimes, when a completed rug is meant to be hung against a wall rather than walked on, more delicate fibers are used, such as silk, goat hair or camel hair. These are shinier but more expensive.

Sometimes the rugs are woven on a large, flat, rectangular frame resting on stones on the ground. Other times the frame is propped up against a wall or fixed in place by a triangular base. To do this, the warp yarn is stretched, to form the rug’s base. Then, by weaving the weft yarns in and out, over and under the warp yarns, fabrics and designs are created in brilliant colors, designs and shapes.

Today, these kinds of hand-woven peasant rugs are considered a valuable and intrinsic part of decorative arts. Their rarity makes them highly coveted by collectors and homeowners. They are, however, rare.

Still, an admirer might get lucky, as I did and discover a treasure of her own.